


I Have To Tell You Something

by godlyhorror



Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: But the others are quick to follow, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Friendship, Headspace, Hero Being An Older Brother, Hero is the first to forgive Sunny, M/M, Multi, They need to heal first, no beta we die like the pizzas here, post true ending, slowburn, the romance is later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29817903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godlyhorror/pseuds/godlyhorror
Summary: After telling the truth to his friends, Sunny collapses.After telling the truth to his friends, Sunny doesn't expect them to forgive him.After telling the truth to his friends, they do.ALTERNATIVELY:A story about the post-true end where the gang gets up to mayhem and mischief as well as crying and healing
Relationships: Aubrey & Basil & Hero & Kel & Sunny (OMORI), Aubrey/Basil/Kel/Sunny (OMORI), Hero & Kel (OMORI), Hero/Mari (OMORI), Mari & Sunny (OMORI)
Comments: 51
Kudos: 170





	1. The Truth

“I’m so sorry- I’m so, so sorry-“ his breathing was heavy and ragged, as if he were struggling to get the words out, fighting to scratch the sobs out of his underused throat. Tears streamed in an unsteady flow down his cheek, dampening the bandage on the other side of his face.

Hero was in shock. That much was obvious.

How could he not be? Sunny, his friend – ~~his brother, his youngest brother~~ – had just admitted to killing Mari. Sunny had killed Mari, and Basil – the boy beside him, sleeping so deeply, barely stirred. ~~He looked so tired, so tired~~ – had had the idea to frame the accidental death as a suicide.

He was struggling to accept it, and he felt a lot of emotions stir inside of his heart. Sadness, obviously – ~~It was preventable, it was all preventable, how could he not see Sunny’s and Mari’s stress adding up, how could he not _see_~~ –, Confusion, for sure – ~~How did no-one notice the blunt-force trauma on her body? Surely the inspection of the body showed the results from falling down the stairs~~ –, Grief, definitely – ~~Oh god, Sunny, he’s been living with this guilt for so _long_ , how had he survived?~~ –, but the one emotion that didn’t show up once was anger. He didn’t feel an ounce of anger for Sunny at all, which, to be honest with himself, surprises him greatly.

But really, - again - being honest with himself, how can he bring himself to be angry at Sunny right now, with him on his knees in front of them, limbs looking frail and thin – worryingly so, actually – and sobbing his heart out. At this moment, Hero can’t bring himself to be angry at anyone but fate and misfortune for destroying the lives of his friends – his family – for years and years. 

He gets so caught up in his thinking that he barely notices when Sunny’s apologies suddenly cut off, and he begins to fall forward, eyes glazed over. Hero rushes across the room to get to him in time, faintly noticing Aubrey and Kel a step behind him. When he catches the boy in his arms – when did he get so _light_? Had he always felt like nothing but skin and bones? – Sunny is limp in his arms. Panic sieges through him like a tidal wave as he calls “Nurse! Nurse! Kel, Aubrey, find help!” he screams. He’s already lost Mari; he’ll be damned if he loses another friend.

He’s faintly aware of Kel and Aubrey lingering for a half moment before dashing out of the room. Hopefully to find help, he thinks. While they’re gone, he checks for a pulse, thanking his medical knowledge. Finding one quickly and finding that it’s steady – if faint – helps to calm his rising panic.

He takes deep breaths, to quell the rest of his panic. Breathing in, holding, feeling the world focus, and exhaling. He does this a few more times as the world settles into focus once more, able to think clearly again. He racks his brain for reasons as to why this happened. Stress could be a viable reason, he thinks, looking down into Sunny’s face, seeing his eyes now closed and breathing deeply. His body trying to heal from the stress of the previous week another reason – God, Sunny had been sleeping for a week now, and Hero hadn’t seen a single sign of his mother. Did she know? She had to know, right? -. The last reason he could think of so quickly was just… A lack of energy. He hadn’t been that expressive in years, and even when Mari was… Alive, he wasn’t nearly as expressive as he was mere moments ago. And with how skinny he is, and how little he’d grown over the years, Hero wouldn’t be surprised if Sunny was starving himself. He looked and felt as if he hadn’t eaten anything substantial in months… Maybe years. It was a stretch, but not impossible.

He didn’t get the chance to think for much longer, as a number of nurses burst into the room in a state of alarm, with Aubrey and Kel following behind, quickly taking Sunny away to his own room to get him checked out.

There was silence in Basil’s room for a few minutes as they all stood stock still, barely processing the strict orders from the nurses to not disturb Sunny until told otherwise.

“Hero? What just- What just happened?” his brother spoke up first. He was thankful for it, really. He didn’t know if he would be able to break the tense silence that followed the wake of that whole incident. “Is Sunny… Will Sunny be okay?”

He looked to his brother, a frown on his lips before he pulled together a smile out of the scraps of happiness that he still held. It didn’t look very strong at the moment, but it was a smile, nonetheless. “Yeah. Yeah, I think he will be, given a little while. He hasn’t looked too healthy, those last few days. Don’t you agree?”

“Yeah. He… He didn’t look that great when I saw him last week, but he seemed fine when we were out and about, and he was able to do so many part-time jobs over those last few days, I thought he was fine.”

“Are we just- Are we just going ignore what he told us?” Aubrey started, heat in her voice. Hero looked to her then, and he immediately felt a deep sorrow in his bones for her. She had tears brimming in her eyes and a crease in her brow that hadn’t been there in the past week he’s been spending time with her. “He admitted to killing Mari! He- They hung her body themselves!” her voice was slowly getting louder, the tears in her eyes threatening to spill over.

“No, Aubrey, of course we aren’t going to ignore it,” he replied, automatically. He was slowly processing exactly what Sunny admitted to, but it didn’t make him feel any differently towards the boy. “But did you see him? He’s been starving himself. He’s been killing himself these past 4 years.”

“You loved her, Hero! How can you be so- so blasé about this all?” she stepped towards him. Kel, by her side, shrunk in on himself minutely, before he straightened his back and went to reply, only for Hero to beat him to the punch.

“You loved her too!” his voice raised. That was a rare occurrence. Hero seldom ever raised his voice at any of his friends or family. The last time that Kel had heard him yell at any of his friends or family was years ago, and he was the one who received that ire. “You loved her too, Aubrey,” his voice softened. “It’s true I loved her. If it was in the cards, I would have still been by her side today.” There was a clear wistfulness in his voice. It wasn’t a secret that Hero had had feelings for Mari, so Aubrey’s jab must have hit hard. “But you loved her too, Aubrey. So did Kel.” He waved his hands in their general direction before his voice softened further. “And so did Basil.” Aubrey flinched at that, her gaze snapping to the floor. “And so did Sunny. Sunny loved her the most out of all of us,” Hero was trying his best to keep his voice even, fighting against the tears threatening to spill out from his eyes. 

That seemed to be the final straw for Aubrey, as her knees gave out beneath her, crumbling to the floor. Kel dropped to his knees with her, silently offering his warmth and comfort. Quiet sobs broke out of her throat as she muttered questions, expecting no answer. “Why did he do it? Why did he have to kill her? Why did it have to be him? Why did he tell the truth after so long?” 

“I… Have my theories,” he spoke up quietly, not expecting the quickness in which Aubrey snapped her eyes up to meet his. He wouldn’t comment on how red her face was, or the tears flowing rapidly, or the way her lips wobbled. Instead, he got down on his knees with his brother and friend, so they ‘stood’ eye level with each other.

“You know why he did it?” Kel was the one to ask. Maybe to spare Aubrey the need to talk, but more likely that he was curious for himself. Once he had gotten over the initial shock of this whole situation, he sounded… betrayed, in a way. Kel had been close to Sunny, when they were younger, so the anger in his eyes was confusing to Hero, especially with how he was so concerned over his wellbeing not too long ago. Well, not exactly confusing, but more so unexpected. Out of the three of them, he would have expected Kel to be the first to forgive, but clearly, he was wrong.

Then again, the anger wasn’t unprecedented. Sunny had just outed himself to have been the one to kill and stage Mari’s death as a suicide. That must have been a shock to them all. It was certainly a shock to him, so it was definitely a shock to the two teens in front of him. But he was serious when he said he had theories. His brain had been working overtime from the moment that Sunny had first apologised. What was important now, however, was putting aside all of his emotions so he could explain things to the best of his knowledge.

“No. I don’t know for sure why he did it, but I have theories. You kids were young when it happened, so you might not have noticed how both Mari and Sunny were acting towards each other leading up to the accident,” he put specific emphasis on the word ‘accident’, making eye contact with the two teens in front of him so they registered that it was an accident. “I only really remembered just now, and I only really got the grasp of it all when Sunny confessed.”

Kel looked somewhat abashed at the jab, but his eyes still held an anger that didn’t suit him. The anger was quelled a bit as he thought on what Hero had said. “Come to think of it, they both stopped hanging out with us as much when the recital came up, and they weren’t as nice to each other as they used to be…” Kel’s anger had dissipated somewhat as he thought, “Well? Let’s hear your thoughts. I’m sure Aubrey and I want to hear them.” Aubrey  
sniffled and nodded her head in silent agreement.

“Well, Mari was a perfectionist. Sunny isn’t.” Hero took a moment to gather his thoughts. “Sunny was the one to suggest the recital in the first place, but Mari wanted it to be perfect. She told me herself so many times when we hung out by ourselves. Over the weeks she got angrier and her patience was so much shorter… I… I think she pushed Sunny too hard. He said they had a fight on the night of the recital. I think he got mad and just… Pushed her, like he said. I think he pushed her, but I’m certain that he didn’t want her to fall down the stairs.” His head was bowed towards the end, counting the tiles on the floor to keep himself grounded.

“But why didn’t he tell us? Why didn’t he tell _me_?” Kel, again, sounded betrayed. But when Hero looked to him, he couldn’t see anger anymore, just a deep, deep sadness. Hero leant forward and scooped his brother into a tight hug, and he could feel silent tears dampen his jumper. “He was my little brother, Hero, why didn’t he come to me?”

The words were so quiet that he wasn’t sure if he was meant to hear them, but he did anyway. The question hit close to his heart, seeing as he was thinking those thoughts not even 20 minutes ago. So, he said the first thing that came to mind. “I know, Kel. I know it hurts, but you can ask him when he wakes up, can’t you?” 

When he felt a slight nod against his shoulder, he picked his brother up to his feet and wow his little bro really is so much taller than him now. When they all calm down some, he’s sure that Kel will get right back to holding it over his head. Ha. That’s a good one, holding it over his head. He’s gonna have to tell Kel that at some point soon.

Hero looked over to Aubrey, who was just starting to come back from her moment. Hero helped her to her feet, again not commenting on the red in her cheeks or the red in her eyes. 

When Hero went back to sit by Basil’s bedside, the two teens came to sit by him as well. They sat there in silence together until visiting hours were closed. A lot of thoughts drifted in and out of his mind during that time, a lot of them had to do with the teen in front of him and Sunny. He was, admittedly, upset at the fact that neither of them had told the truth until now, but he had a feeling that there was more to the reason they did so than meets the eye. At least Sunny had told them the truth in the end. He can be thankful for that.

Leaving the hospital together, they began walking down the main road that headed towards their houses in a shared silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t comfortable either. None of them seemed willing to break it, not even Kel. When Aubrey looked to split off from the brothers to head to her own home, Hero spoke up to his own surprise. “Where do you think you’re going, young lady?”, he asked it in his joking tone, for the first time that day. He… didn’t quite know what spurred him into speaking, either, but he knew exactly what he needed to follow it up with.

“What do you mean, Hero? I’m going home for the night. It’s getting late,” Aubrey responded with a very obvious hint of exhaustion, and fairly so. Today was exhausting, emotionally more than physically, but it was exhausting, nonetheless.

“Yeah, you should be going home, true.” Aubrey looked to Hero with a silent question, suspicion in her eyes. Kel was looking to Hero with abject suspicion now, too. He looked to his little brother, and a silent look of understanding passed between the two.

“That’s why you should stick with us, Aubs,” Kel continued for his brother, looking back to Aubrey to find a clear look of surprise on her face. “Come home,” he continued, a quiet pleading to his tone, masked with the joviality he’s so well known for. It’s not surprising to Hero that Kel was pleading with her, even if only quietly, and it wasn’t that surprising to Hero that he had immediately picked up on what Hero was going to ask and ran with it without question. They had both seen the state of her house themselves. Neither of them wants her to go home to that place anymore, or at least, Hero doesn’t.

Aubrey looks to the two with understanding in her own eyes. She stops in place, looking down the street to her own house. The sun is setting over the horizon and washing the town of Faraway in an orange hue. They stand like that for minutes that feel like hours. When Aubrey turns back to them, she’s walking towards them. 

“Alright then, let’s get going,” she says. Her voice contains emotions that don’t show on her face at this moment, and she steps into line between the two brothers. She looks to each of them, Kel with a grin as wide as he is tall, and Hero with a gentle smile that she hadn’t ever seen directed at her before, only towards Kel when he saw his brother do something he approved of with his entire being. She turned her eyes to the street, as she picked her voice up. “You’d better be cooking tonight, Hero. I haven’t had your cooking in ages, and I want some fucking lasagne.”

Kel began laughing, the first time that day, and it was a sound that she was surprised to feel that she had been missing. Hero, however, sounded affronted. “Language, Aubrey. Don’t let our mother hear you talk like that, or you’ll be getting The Sandal.”

And it was with that exchange that silence was broken, and they laughed and talked as they made their way down the street, to their home. For a moment, everything was good. For a moment, they allowed themselves to be happy, and allowed themselves to feel that everything would be okay.

Everything is going to be okay.


	2. Life at Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aubrey attempts to Process.
> 
> Kel is a banger of a friend.
> 
> Hero makes Lasagne.

“Mum! We’re home!” Kel’s voice rang through the house as he slipped his shoes off by the door, Aubrey wincing at the volume before following his lead and slipping her own shoes off by the door. Hero stood behind them both, hanging back in the doorway for a minute as they ventured further into the house.

Aubrey and Kel moved into the living room, where Kel’s mother sat reading a book on the lounge. Hearing footsteps, she looked up to see her son. “Oh hello, Kel! How was the hospital visit? Are your friend’s alright- oh! Hello Aubrey!” she called, waving to Aubrey who stepped out from behind Kel to stand beside him.

“Hey, what's up- I mean, good evening, ma’am,” good start, Aubrey.

“Why are you being polite, all of a sudden?” Kel asks, tilting his head in confusion. “It’s just my mum, you’ve met before, it’s just been a while.”

“He raises a good point, Aubrey. It’s been a while, but you’re still you,” his mother says, placing a bookmark in her book and putting it on the small coffee table in front of her. She stands, then, and walks towards Aubrey and Kel.

Giving Kel a short, but tight hug – It’s been a long day. She can probably tell by the exhaustion in her son’s face – she moves onto Aubrey and gives her a short, but equally tight hug. For a moment, she doesn’t know what to do with her arms – She hasn’t been hugged by a mother in years, what do you do when your friend’s mother is hugging you, what? – so she just kind of… hung them in the air awkwardly behind Kel’s mother. Just as she was about to – awkwardly – return the hug, his mother brought herself back and gave her a wide smile.

“So! Are you staying for dinner? I’m sure it would be lovely!”

“Actually, mum, we were wondering if Aubrey could stay the night,” Hero appeared in the doorway behind them, smiling warmly at them both for a moment before setting his sights on his mother. “It’s been a while since we’ve had Aubrey over for a sleepover. We wanted everyone to be here, but, well,” he began to laugh softly, hand reaching to the back of his neck to rub awkwardly.

“Oh, that’s no problem at all! Of course, one of you will have to give up your beds for our dear Aubrey here.”

“No, no that’s not a problem! I can sleep on the couch, promise-“ Aubrey was going to continue her argument, before she was hit by a look from the boys’ mother that said ‘Aubrey you will take the bed, or you’ll get The Sandal'. She looked to the boys to garner their support. Surely they wouldn’t want to give up their beds for her on such short notice, but she was heartbroken when Kel spoke up.

“Oh, yeah, that’s no problem. She can have my bed, seeing as I changed my sheets this morning.,” he grinned at her, completely unrepentant. “And besides! I sleep like a rock wherever I decide to close my eyes, so you can have my room until you decide to stop using it!”

That bastard. How dare he be… Generous. Prick. “I… Thank you, Kel.” She physically struggled to get those words out, and it must have shown, as Hero had burst into light laughter. Aubrey felt a little silly thinking it, but Hero’s laughter, when it was real, when it was genuine, had the power to light up an entire city block.

“Don’t worry about it, Aubs!” either Kel was completely unaware of Aubrey’s ire towards him, or he was ignoring it for the sake of being… Kel. “Seriously, you know me, I fell asleep dangling from the cat in the playground not too long ago!”

That’s true, she did remember that. It was a few weeks ago, actually. And if she remembered correctly, she also pushed him off the cat. It was pretty funny, looking back on it. She let herself laugh a little at his expense in the memory, before relaxing a little bit. “Alright, fine, I’ll take your bed. Don’t complain when you wake up with a sore neck, though.” In truth, getting past her reluctance, she would really like to sleep in that bed again.

Years ago, the 6 of them all piled into that bed. Well, technically it was Hero’s bed as well, seeing as they pushed them both together so they could all fit, but the point still stood. What she remembered of the bed was that it was comfortable, more comfortable than her bed at home, anyway. Behind the ire, she was thankful that he offered it to her with no reluctance at all.

“Why don’t you go get yourself set up for the night. You don’t want to get set up when you’re tired, it’s a slog,” Hero lightly pushed her in the direction of the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. As she walked, she could hear Hero talking to his mother about cooking dinner that night. She allowed herself to smile, being able to have some of Hero’s cooking was always a good time. She had no idea how he always made everything taste so damn good.

Moving into the bedroom, she was suddenly washed with the feeling that Kel really did still care for her as a friend. Hero, too. Really, she should have gotten that through her head with all that happened in the last few days before Sunny was meant to move out.

Sunny…

She wanted to be angry at him. She wanted to be furious. She wanted to take her bat and hit him over and over until he was still for what he had done.

She just… She wanted him to hurt like she had. She wanted him to feel the pain of her loss every single day just as she had. Aubrey didn’t have a mother to care for her, she didn’t have an older sister anymore, and when Hero   
left, she didn’t have an older brother either – ~~but now he’s back, maybe he can be her big brother again~~ –. 

At least she had her friends now. The hooligans had her back. Kel had her back. Hero had her back. But… Could she say the same for Sunny?

Sunny… He didn’t have an older sister anymore, either. Aubrey hadn’t seen his mother in… months, and he hadn’t even seen Hero for years. At least she had the privilege of seeing him in passing when he came home from college.

Sunny didn’t even have friends to rely on until recently. It was only thanks to Kel that Sunny had even come outside, and believe her, she had tried to get him to come outside in the early months. She had near begged for him to come outside and spend time with her – with them – again, but maybe… Maybe she hadn’t tried hard enough. Maybe none of them had tried hard enough.

Maybe if she tried harder to get him to come out, to open up, she’d have been able to forgive him by now. They could have healed already, had she just _tried harder_ -

“Aubrey, you good?” that was Kel at the door. His concerned voice snapped her out of her spiralling thoughts, and thank God for that. She hadn’t noticed the tears slipping down her cheeks, and when she went to wipe them away, Kel opened the door to his – her – room, stepping in with a concerned frown on his lips.

When she turned to him, he was already scooping her up in a silent hug. She nuzzled her head into the crook between his neck and shoulder and silently wept. She had no idea how he knew she was upset, but she was thankful. He might be an oaf when it comes to academics, but he was, surprisingly – in Aubrey’s opinion – incredibly intelligent when it came to people. 

She might be closed off, emotionally, but she was still Aubrey. She still cared about her friends. No matter how much she wanted to hate Sunny right now, she just couldn’t bring herself to. She might not forgive him, right now, but she wanted to, damn it.

Lifting her head, she stepped back from Kel. “Heh, sorry for that Kel. Yesterday was a lot, and I’m still getting it all through my head.”

The concern etched into his face didn’t waver for a second. “Yeah, I know. It’s a lot to process, huh?” he walked over to sit on the edge of his bed, patting the mattress next to him and beckoning Aubrey to sit with him. It was a silent offer to talk. Why was he so good at that? The being silent thing, he’s meant to be loud and brash and full of life.

Maybe he’d been thrown out of sorts by the news too. Of course he had. He had loved Sunny.

Stepping over to the bed and taking a seat, she sighed deeply. Staring at the floor beneath them, she “I want to forgive him, Kel. Is that wrong of me, after what he did?” she asked in a quiet voice, looking anywhere but him. She was afraid of what she’d see in his eyes.

“I do too.” That… wasn’t what she was expecting to hear. She snapped her head up to him in confusion, only to find Kel staring into the middle distance. “I missed him for four years, and then when I saw him for the first time, he accepted me back into his life so quickly, I…” he turned to face her, and his eyes locked to hers. “I just want my friends back, Aubrey.”

She hugged him, then. No-one could see, so it was fine. If anyone ever brought it up, or if anyone ever suspected Aubrey of being a sap, she’d break their kneecaps herself. But for now, seeing the pain, the loss, the anguish in Kel’s eyes, she allowed herself to be vulnerable for him. 

He was warm. He wrapped her back up in a hug instantly.

Only for a moment, though. As quickly as she started it, she stood up, breaking off the hug. She coughed into her hand awkwardly and spoke up. “Well, I’m finished setting up in here. I didn’t have much to do, really. All my stuff is back at home.” She turned away from him, to start heading downstairs. “Come on, don’t want Hero to get too worried, do we?”

“Yeah, you’re right. The nerd is probably tearing his hair out wondering where we are, haha!” Kel laughed loudly, standing up himself and walking quickly past Aubrey. He paused at the top of the stairs for a moment, a contemplative gaze flickering through his eyes before he shook his head and trekked down the stairs.

Aubrey followed suit, feeling a genuine truth to his words. Hero would definitely needlessly worry if he didn’t hear from either of them for long. God, what was wrong with her, she’d been agreeing with Kel far too much that day for her own good. She needed to start disagreeing with him, otherwise she felt as if she’d be breaking some sacred law of Faraway.

As Kel moved to talk with his mother about something or other, she moved towards the kitchen. There, she saw Hero busy at work putting the – holy shit he’s making fucking lasagne, this day is incredible. Who cares about anything else right now, that’s **_Hero’s Fucking Lasagne_** – lasagne in the oven.

“Hero.”

Hero, lasagne still in hand, spun around gracefully. With his apron on, and a winning smile, he responded as if nothing was wrong. “Yes, Aubrey?”

Eyes locked onto the meal in his hands, “Hero, I love you.”

Hero, for his part, simply laughed. Carefree, for once in his life, he turned back around and put the lasagne in the oven before turning back around again to face Aubrey. He took off his mittens and ruffled her hair in such an old and familiar manner, she couldn’t help but keen into his touch. He was still laughing, too. Prick. “Love you too, Aubrey, don’t you forget it.”

After a few moments of simple affection, she straightened up and coughed into her hands. “That didn’t happen. Anyway. Need any help with dinner or have you got it all sorted?” What was she saying? Of course he had it all sorted, it was in the oven. Still, she couldn’t help but ask. She wanted to be of some use in the house while she was staying here.

Granted, she was likely only staying for a day or two before she would have to inevitably return to her house, but she still wanted to earn her stay.

Seemingly sensing her thoughts, Hero’s lips thinned slightly before he tilted his head, thinking. His face lit up, as if a light bulb had quite literally shown up over his head. “Well, why don’t you help me with the dishes from today. We wouldn’t want to deal with Dinner’s dishes as well as the rest of the days. It’s better to get them done in two smaller batches instead of one big batch.”

An easy job, sure, but a necessary one. “Cool, thanks. Let’s get started then, huh?” 

For a few minutes as the sink filled and they worked in unison, they also worked in comfortable silence. She was sure that if it were Kel and her working together, he’d be whining or complaining about the job constantly – There we go, the inward jab at Kel would set the universe back in place. No more agreeing with him, as it should be – or maybe they’d both work in silence like they were now – God damn it –. 

All of a sudden, words were crawling out of her throat without her input. “Hero, how were you so calm before?” What the fuck, Aubrey, you don’t just say stuff like that out of the blue, what’s wrong with you? He’s probably still processing it all!

Hero froze in his scrubbing of a pan for a moment before continuing effortlessly. “Well, first off. I wasn’t calm at all, during his speech or afterwards,” his voice was calm, with no underlying rage that she was sure would be there, but Hero was always a good actor. “Second of all, he was twelve. He was twelve and he made a mistake that’s haunted him for years.” There was frustration in his voice then, but, somehow, she could tell that it wasn’t directed at Sunny.

She kept silent during his speech, sensing that he had more to say, he was just thinking of how to say it. She really wasn’t expecting him to have thought about it already, but clearly he had actually somehow processed it all and already forgiven Sunny.

“Third off…” he began in a smaller voice, one that Aubrey had to strain to hear properly. “Mari wouldn’t have wanted us to stay at odds with each other.” He finished rinsing the pan he was washing and placed it in the drying rack, unplugging the sink to let the water drain. “We were best friends, Aubrey. All of us, we were as close as family. What happened was a tragic accident, but we shouldn’t let it rule our lives.”

Aubrey stood there, dish cloth in hand as she processed Hero’s words. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She knew what he meant. She did, but it was still just so hard to accept. She knew she was going to accept what he meant, and she knew she was going to forgive Sunny, but she still definitely needed some time.

“We all make mistakes sometimes, Aubrey. It’s learning to forgive that’s the hard part. Maybe the reason I’m so quick to accept his apology is because I’ve had people in my life lie, only to regret it later. Although definitely not to the same degree, and not for as long, but I have a feeling that there was more to it than he could say at the time.”

Aubrey still just stood there, stock still. “I want to forgive him, Hero. I already told Kel, but I really do. I missed him, Hero. It’s just so hard.” She didn’t cry this time, although there was a burning behind her eyes that told her that she wanted to. She’d cried enough tears tonight, though, so she just stood there and took it as Hero hugged her.

He broke the hug after a minute, looking down into her eyes with such a bright smile that she thought she would be blinded by it. “And you can, in time. Healing is a long process, and we might never truly heal completely, but we can find ways to deal with the scars left behind.” He ruffled her hair – the second time he’d done that tonight – before he checked the timer on the lasagne. “We still have twenty minutes before the lasagne needs to come out, how about we go play cards with Kel, how’s that sound?”

That sounded really good. It reminded her of the old times, but she quickly shook those thoughts away. They may remind her of the old times now, and maybe they always wood, but she could build new memories. New memories to accompany the old, so she wouldn’t be haunted over what could have been and instead look forward to what can – and will – be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2!!! Hell Yeah!
> 
> I should really be studying my chemistry notes,,, I have a test in 3 hours.
> 
> Oh well!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!!! Please let me know what you think in the comments, I live for your feedback, I love hearing from you! :D


	3. Late Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kel struggles to get his emotions in order.
> 
> Hero sucks at cards, but excels at cooking.
> 
> Aubrey plays solitaire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about such a long wait! I got halfway through this chapter and then remembered that I had like 6 tests in a row over two days for my chemistry course. Please forgive, lmao.
> 
> I really do hope you enjoy this chapter though! Let me know what you think in the comments, please! I live for your feedback :D

Kel was tired.

God, was he tired.

Well, to be fair, it had been a huge day. With waking up in the early morning to find that Sunny and Basil had gotten into a fight in his bedroom, to realizing that Sunny had lost his eye, to rushing them both to the hospital, to the waiting, to how Sunny confessed the truth, to Aubrey staying with the Jennings, it was… A Lot.

So, being tired wasn’t much of a surprise, nor was it really unexpected. But even still, Kel didn’t really like being tired.  
Sure, he was tired for a good amount of the day, most days, but he was mostly able to quell that lethargy by being active, by smiling, by being jovial. If he was being honest with himself, he was barely holding it together all day.  
He just…

Listen. When he went to Sunny’s house, he didn’t expect to really… See him. He expected Sunny to, at most, say hi to him through the door. Instead, he was able to see him for the first time in years, and from there, he reconnected with Basil – Oh god, Basil, what did you both get into – and Aubrey.

He didn’t expect that to lead to him and everyone else finding out that Sunny and Basil had orchestrated Mari’s suicide.

He’s not stupid, contrary to popular belief. He might not get the best grades, but that comes with never learning how to study and being thrust into the deep end. He might not get things as quickly as other people might, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand things.

And most of all, just because he’s passionate doesn’t mean that he can’t tell how others are feeling. He’d always been good at reading people, he’d just never been very good at putting what he saw into words, or knowing how to act on what he saw.

Maybe he should have learned. Coming up to the recital, he had been able to tell that Sunny and Mari had been getting stressed, Sunny more than Mari, but he hadn’t been able to do anything about it.  
He hadn’t been able to do anything.

Useless, worthless Kel hadn’t been able to do anything.

“Kel?” Aubrey’s voice cut through his thoughts, snapping his focus back to the world around him. “It’s your turn, buddy.”

Her voice was concerned, that was surprising. Well, maybe not that surprising. They were friends again – and thank God for that, he had really missed her – but that didn’t mean he wasn’t surprised at the open worry she showed.  
He flashed her a grin and laid down his cards, a Jack and a Ten. Twenty, one off a blackjack. It was better than what she had down, a Queen and a Nine – nineteen -. He could put that roiling mess of emotions on the backburner for now. He had to live in the moment, and this moment was worth it. The absolutely distraught expression on Aubrey’s face was priceless. Hero was out of this round by busting on the first draw. Kel and Aubrey had clearly made the right decision in holding.

“Alright, that’s bull…” Aubrey’s eyes darted to his mother for a moment before darting back to the cards in front of her, “…crap. Bullcrap. You’ve won like 5 times in a row!”

And that was true enough. What could he say, his luck was just good! Hero’s luck on the other hand… Hoo boy, that was terrible. Sometimes he felt bad for Hero with how terrible his luck was with card games. It’s like the universe was betting against him sometimes, with how bad it was. “It’s not my fault that I’m just good at Blackjack!”

“It so is! You’ve rigged the deck, I bet!” she meant it in jest, of course. Well, at least he thought she did. He didn’t rig the deck, he had morals. Blackjack was a sacred game between them all, he could never cheat at it.

Hero stood then, dusting off his knees from where he was sitting. Aubrey looked up to him with a pout, and Kel had to admit, fleetingly, that it was cute. It was like a flash of the old Aubrey had surfaced which just solidified Kel’s thoughts that despite everything, they were still _them_. They were still the friends they were four years ago, they had just… Changed a bit. “Where are you going, Hero?”

“Well, as much as I would love to get trounced in cards again, I should really go set up the table for dinner. The lasagne is almost done, after all.” He shot them a winning smile as he left the room, and Kel didn’t need to see his mother’s pointed gaze to know that he was expected to help his brother.

Standing up himself, he went to follow his brother into the kitchen. He grinned at Aubrey, before telling her that he was going to go help his brother.

Walking into the kitchen, his senses were swamped with the heavenly smell of his brother’s cooking, and Hero carrying the pan of lasagne over to the bench. It looked divine, as all of his brother’s cooking did. Hero shot him a smile, although when he saw Kel, the smile dimmed somewhat. 

“Kel, are you alright? What’s wrong?”

The concern in his brother’s voice was palpable, why did he sound so concerned? Aside from the normal level of concern, anyway. Kel brought a hand up to his face, and wiped away a stray tear – why was he crying, that didn’t make much sense, why was he crying? – 

All of a sudden, Kel was being swept up in a hug – God, there were a lot of hugs going around today, weren’t there? He’d given and received more hugs in the past 6 hours then he had in months, holy crap -. It was a bit awkward, because he could feel the warm mittens on Hero rubbing circles on his back, but it was nice. 

He still didn’t know why he was crying, but he was allowed to relish in the moment. He was tired. He was so tired, sue him.

What was he saying, of course he knew why he was crying. His friends had been suffering for years, harbouring guilt from an accident that they never meant commit and the subsequent coverup that haunted them daily.  
But he couldn’t keep crying right now. He should, but he couldn’t. He needed to pull himself together for the dinner that had just come out of the oven.

He pulled himself away from Hero, who’s eyes were so full of worry and concern that it was nearly embarrassing. Nearly. All Kel really felt for it was affection and gratitude. He pulled together a smile, it was easy enough for him. “Your dinner looked so good I couldn’t help myself from crying haha!”

From the look on Hero’s face, that lie didn’t go over his head. “We’ll talk about this later, if you’re up for it. Bottling up your emotions doesn’t turn out well for anyone.” He waved to himself vaguely, a pointed look in his eyes. “I’m a prime example.”

Oh boy, he had a point. Kel looked down, away from Hero’s eyes. “Alright, alright, chill out! I’ll talk later. For now, food!” he called excitedly, only partially as an excuse to cover up the waver in his voice. He was being truthful when he said that Hero’s dinner looked good, it really did look amazing.

Kel set the table, hustling and bustling to get the plates, cutlery and drinks on the table as Hero brought out the dishes of lasagne he had prepared. Kel stole a glance at the clock hanging on the wall, noting that it was about time that his father came home from work – good timing Hero, damn – before he made his way into the living room again.

“Hey guys! Dinner’s up and ready, come and grab some! I’ll go grab Sally!”

Aubrey looked up excitedly from where she was on the floor, kicking her legs idly as she sorted through the cards they were playing with earlier – was she playing solitaire? What kind of nerd plays solitaire? – before her eyes locked with Kel’s. Aubrey’s excitement dimmed a touch as it was replaced with concern. 

Damn, his eyes must be red or something from the crying. He waved her off quickly, before turning to go grab Sally from her room for dinner. Before he grabbed Sally from where she slept, he washed his face quickly in the bathroom, washing away the tear streaks.

After a brief struggle with getting Sally seated at the table, the table was packed. Kel’s father had come home while he was grabbing Sally, it looked like, as he was in a boisterous conversation with Aubrey, who looked very awkward for some reason. Hero, on the other hand, looked incredibly amused with the conversation.

Kel couldn’t hear the majority of the conversation, but he could easily hear his father’s loud laughter as he was grabbing Sally.

Sitting at the table and serving himself up some lasagne, however, he was able to tune in quickly to the conversation. He wanted to know what was causing Aubrey to go as red as a tomato.

“Good evening son! When were you going to tell me that you were dating young Aubrey here, I would’ve given you a lot more advice!” oh no “Well, I knew that couples tended to move a little faster than they used to,” Oh No “but I didn’t know that moving in together was so quick on the list, ahaha!” Oh God, No. “All jokes aside, Aubrey, I’m glad you took an interest in my Kel. He may be a little bit dense, but he’s an incredible boy. I couldn’t be prouder to have him as my boy.”

Oh God, he was gone for 10 minutes at most- How could everything get so out of hand so quickly? What the hell was happening? He was flushing just as red as Aubrey at this point out of a mixture of both embarrassment and fear. Embarrassment because “Dad! Aubrey- Aubrey is a friend- oh my God- She wouldn’t ever like me that way- oh my God” and Fear because Aubrey, right now, was looking at him with a look that promised… Well, he didn’t  
know what that look meant, but it definitely meant something bad.

And Hero, that smug bastard of a brother, was absolutely relishing in this mayhem. He looked at Kel and then to Aubrey with a teasing grin that hadn’t been on his face for a long while and spoke up. “Are you sure? You two do bicker and argue like an old married couple. You're really speedrunning romance, you two!”

Aubrey looked scandalized, and Kel felt about the same. Aubrey spoke up then, “Hero! We are not- we’re not _speedrunning romance_ , wh- what?”

Okay, that’s a good one. Speedrunning romance. Kel imagines just running up to someone and saying ‘let’s get married’ for world record pace. He laughs at that for a moment before he starts digging back into his dinner to avoid the flushed cheeks that he would surely get if he thought about himself and Aubrey getting married - Stupid Hero, being a brat of a brother but then he goes and makes such good food. Bastard. -

He had to admit though, the atmosphere was warm, and he really did like it. He could do without the teasing over a non-existent relationship – even though Aubrey really was a nice girl who’s smile made his chest warm – but other than that, the dinner was awesome.

He helped Aubrey and Hero clean up the dishes – Aubrey had insisted, which both surprised him and didn’t surprise him at all, it was weird, he was still getting to really know Aubrey all over again – which didn’t take long at all with the three of them working as a team. 

Time passed quickly from there, almost in a blur for Kel. The three had played cards again for a little bit, he had a shower, they had all made idle chatter for an hour or so, then Aubrey and Hero had gone to bed somewhere around 10:30, and then he was just lying on the couch, staring at the roof, pondering existence and also when the new pet rocks game was going to come out. He wanted to see the new generation already, damnit.

But that was definitely not all that was plaguing his mind. How could it be? He had so much to think about. Sunny and Basil, namely. He had already made up his mind on whether he was going to forgive them or not. It was an obvious choice to him, of course he would. It still hurt nonetheless that neither of them had thought to go to him for help, to cry to, to lean on.

Then again, he had never made an effort to keep in touch with either of them until quite recently, so he can’t blame them. He was kind of a terrible friend, now that he really thought about it. He didn’t deserve to see Sunny’s smile, or receive Basil’s tender care. He didn’t deserve Aubrey’s friendly teasing or Hero’s genuine comfort. 

He deserved to rot here. That’s what he thought at least, he deserved to rot like the useless trash he was-

“Kel, are you awake?” Hero’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to his brother and nodded with a bright smile, not that he could see it in the dark. Realising this, he spoke up. 

“Yeah, I am. What’s up?” He sat up. He wasn’t getting any sleep anytime soon, either way, so he might as well talk to his brother, see what was troubling him. Wait, was this about earlier-?

“Do you want to talk about it? I’m your brother, Kel, you can talk to me.”

Can he? The last time he had really tried to lay his emotions out, Hero had laid into him as if he had been the one to- to kill Mari. If he opened up now, who’s to say he wouldn’t lash out again?

Then again, he was still grieving. They all were. They still were. It wasn’t fair to Hero to think of him as this emotionally unstable mess that he used to be. They had both done some healing of their own, and Kel really did want to talk right now, despite how he didn’t exactly want to make his deepest demons known to the world.

So he opened his mouth. “Why didn’t he come to me? Why didn’t they come to me, Hero?” his voice was soft, quiet. So unlike the usually boisterous Kel that it startled even himself. “I mean, I thought we were friends. Friends trust each other, don’t they?”

“They do, of course they do Kel. But this… That wasn’t like any other secret.”

“They could’ve told me!” Kel’s voice was raised. Not loud enough to wake anyone up, hopefully, but it was still louder than he expected.

“And what would you have done?” Hero’s voice was measured. Soft as usual, but an edge of compassion was there too.

“I would’ve…” Kel began heatedly before trailing off into silence for a second. He spoke up again, voice soft. “I would’ve done… Something! I could have helped them!”

“But would you have, knowing how I felt at the time?” Hero’s voice had taken on a melancholy tone, clearly reminiscing about the years that had passed, and how he had reacted to Mari’s sudden departure. 

“I-“ Kel cut himself off abruptly. He didn’t want to say he would have helped them, because he didn’t know if that was really true. He cared for Sunny, and he cared for Basil. He knew that. But he loved Hero. He loved all of them, he didn’t know the answer. “I don’t know…”

“There’s your reason why they didn’t speak up. You know how Basil idolised Sunny; he probably would have taken the secret to his grave.” Hero raised a good point. Basil had really put Sunny on a pedestal. Kel didn’t really know why he had done that, but Sunny and Basil had practically been connected at the hip when the friend group had been together.

Hero was looking at Kel, a few paces away from him. His posture was loose and open, and Kel wondered how he was so calm about this. He knew that Hero was still devastated by what happened to Mari, he knew he was. Sometimes, he would catch a glimpse of Hero looking into the middle distance with such longing that he was worried that Hero would try to reunite with Mari in his own way.

But he also knew that he cared for Sunny like a brother. Kel wanted to be jealous of that fact, but he could really understand it. Sure, he didn’t see Sunny, or Basil for that matter, like a brother, but he definitely viewed them as more than friends, no matter what they had done. He couldn’t exactly put a word to what he felt, but it was more than friendly. All he knew is that when he thought about Sunny, or Basil, it was with fondness, even despite the recent news.

Sure, the memories might be sad now, but he could build new memories with them, right? He could see them every day and play games with them. They could all hang out in the treehouse in the backyard of Sunny’s house like they used to do. They could all go grab a bite to eat at Gino’s. They could walk around faraway together like they did in the last few days before Sunny was scheduled to move out.

Move out…?

Oh god, Sunny was still moving, how could he make new memories with him if he was never going to see him? “Hero, why does he have to move away?”

God, ‘why does he have to move away?’, what a smart question, Kel. You sound like you’re a little kid wondering why he has to go to bed early. Get a grip.

At least Hero had the grace to look compassionate instead of as if Kel was being an idiot. “Just because he’s moving away doesn’t mean you won’t see him.”

“But I won’t see him for weeks at a time! I won’t be able to talk to him and I won’t know how he’s doing-!” he was cut short but Hero pulling him into a hug. How many hugs was that tonight? It felt like at least 20.

Now don’t get him wrong, Kel is a very touchy person. He loved giving hugs and high-fives and fist-bumps! But tonight seemed a little excessive even to him, even if all of the hugs felt necessary.

“You can still talk to him. I’m thinking of asking if he wants to stay with us once a week, God knows mum and dad will let him,” Hero was right about that, at least. But once a week?

“The house will be a little full if Aubrey’s gonna be staying with us for long, you know that right?” Kel was nervous, if he was being honest with himself. He didn’t want to send Aubrey back to the house full of trash, even for a night, but he also didn’t want to turn down the offer of Sunny coming to visit every week. Having Sunny down once a week was better than not hearing from him for months at a time again.

“Well, shoot, you have a point.” Hero sounded dumbfounded for a second, which was a little bit of a surprise to Kel. He had evidently thought of something that his brother failed to account. “We’ll think about that when it comes around to it. Sunny won’t be leaving the hospital for a while, and Basil’s not moving anywhere for now. We can all still hang out as friends, you don’t need to worry about that.”

Hero’s voice sounded a little bit angry when he said that Sunny was still in the hospital, and he didn’t know why. It cleared up quickly though, but Kel still knew that something was off, he just didn’t know what.  
They both sat down on the couch, after that. Kel leaning into Hero’s warmth. He missed doing this with his brother, sure he might be 17 now, but he still cared for his brother. Screw societal norms, he loved his brother and enjoyed cuddling him on the couch after a long day, sue him.

He fell asleep not too long after that, swept up in the familial love and affection of his brother.


	4. Dreaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny dreams. It's different this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! so. this chapter is vastly different from the other ones, but you'll see why when you see the end notes

Sunny awoke with a start.

He was staring at a roof – not white space then, looks like – that had paint peeling slightly at the corners. He could feel the weight of a blanket surrounding him, and he was lying down on a relatively comfortable bed.

This… wasn’t the hospital room he was in.

More so, he couldn’t feel the- well, more like he _could_ feel the emotions bubbling inside of him, so he wasn’t Omori at the moment either. 

He sat up in a slight panic. This wasn’t white space, this wasn’t the hospital room he was staying in, he wasn’t Omori so he didn’t know if he was dreaming or not.

At least he wasn’t chained to the bed or the wall or something like that, so it wasn’t going to be a nightmare. At least to start off with it wouldn’t be anyway. He forced himself to close his eyes and breathe deeply, holding it for a moment like Mari had taught him, and exhaling.

He repeated this a few times before he felt his heartrate lessen to a steady pace instead of the frantic beating from just moments before. He opened his eyes and took stock of the room he found himself in.

The bed he was sitting on was a fairly standard bed, with posts. The mattress was comfortable, even if the blankets were a touch scratchy. He would rate it a 6/10. Not bad, but definitely not the best bed he’d ever woken up on. It was better than waking up on the cold floor of white space, anyway, that was for sure.

There was a desk off to the side made of some dark wood that Sunny couldn’t recognize, a wardrobe opposite the bed, a standing mirror next to it, and a… Large backpack in the corner of the room.

It was weird, not waking up in Headspace. After waking up in Headspace for the better part of 4 years, it was a shock to him to suddenly… Not be waking up there. Although… He supposed it made sense. He had defeated Omori, and he had told the truth as to what happened that day. There was no more need for Omori, or for Headspace.

He’d be lying if he said he wouldn’t miss Headspace. Falling asleep every night to see his friends and sister smiling widely at him. Then again, maybe… Just maybe if his friends in reality forgive him, he’d be able to see their smiles anyway. The real, tangible thing could never beat a dream version of them.

He would also be lying if he said that he expected them to forgive him. They might forgive Basil, because he was only trying his best to help Sunny, but Sunny had actually been the one to… To kill Mari. That was unforgivable. He knew Mari would want him to forgive himself, but if that day ever came, it would be far in the future.

Stepping away from the bed, he could feel the cool hardwood floor of the room. It was strange that he wasn’t in Headspace, but it wasn’t strange that he was having such a vivid dream. He had been an avid dreamer even before the… the accident, which is why it was so easy for him to escape into Headspace when it had all happened.

So the vividness of his dream didn’t surprise him at all. He would just have to go through the dream as normal and he would wake up back in reality. Hopefully without having to stab himself this time. He hoped he was over that specific aspect of himself.

He walked over to the mirror next to wardrobe and felt his eyebrows raise slightly. He knew he wasn’t Omori, but still, seeing himself – as Sunny – in the mirror shocked him. His choice of clothes in the dreamworld wasn’t as shocking, though, even if it was still… Different to what he wore in Headspace.

It looked like he was wearing a frilly white shirt that you’d find on the likes of Captain Spaceboy, and some… leather pants? Definitely an odd choice, but he looked… Fitting, with the room he was in. It was aesthetically matching, if nothing else.

While he was admiring himself in the standing mirror, he heard a knock at the door followed by a voice he was all too familiar with.

“Sunny! Wake up, sleepyhead, before I come in and wake you up myself!” Aubrey’s familiar voice rang through the doorway, shocking him out of his mirror-gazing. Her voice sounded more mature than it had in Headspace. He was running into surprise after surprise with this dream, he should really expect things to be different then they were before in Headspace.

He made his way to the door, opening it slowly to see the very familiar face of Aubrey – pink hair and sharp smile just as he remembered her from yesterday – in the doorway. Her choice of clothes was- Wait, they weren’t clothes. That was _armour_. Just what kind of dream world did he end up in after his confession?

She was wearing what looked to be… Metal armour. Plate armour, he thinks? He’s not the most knowledgeable on armour types, he never really got into medieval stuff, so why was he dreaming of that type of stuff?  
He nodded at her. He wasn’t verbal in Headspace, he wasn’t very verbal in real life, so he didn’t expect himself to be very verbal in this dream world either. Sure, he was going to try to be more verbal in reality, but he could take slow steps. He might as well say good morning, at least.

“Good morning, Aubrey,” his voice came out raspier than he expected for a dream, but seeing as how dreams are based off reality, he’s not all that surprised at the state of his voice. Seeing Aubrey’s sharp grin soften into something sweeter was worth the scratching in his throat, even if it was all only artificial.

“Good morning to you too, Sunshine! Get dressed, the others are downstairs, come on!” and with that, she spun around and headed off down the hall.

So there was a downstairs, then? It seemed as if he was cursed to always be in a two-storey building, at least.

No matter, then. He needed to get dressed – honestly, he thought he was already dressed. What classified as ‘being dressed’ in this dream world? He thought he looked nice enough in the… What type of shirt was it? A… A poet shirt? He was going to go with poet shirt. He thought he looked nice enough in the poet shirt and leather pants. – and head downstairs where the others were. 

Who were the others? Basil, Kel, Hero and Mari most likely. It looked like this was all going to be another version of Headspace. Headspace had undergone a number of changes while Sunny had been hiding away from everything, but none as drastic as this. This was looking to be more of a fantasy land then a parody of reality.

Opening the wardrobe, he was met with nothing but what looked to be leather armour. So Aubrey got the big heavy plate armour and Sunny got the light armour. It made sense. He was small, and he wasn’t very strong, so he wasn’t going to be able to walk around with plate armour, despite having dream world strength.

He spent a little bit of time putting it on, he had no idea what he was doing after all. He struggled with multiple pieces, but he eventually got it all on. It didn’t feel like he put it on right, but he was able to put it on.  
Opening the door to the hallway and stepping out, he was greeted with sunlight streaking across his face from a window at the end of a hallway. He wanted to know more about what kind of dream world he was in, so he walked towards it.

Peering out of the window, he was able to see houses upon houses with thatched roofs and people milling about the streets below. There were market stalls open everywhere he looked, and more and more people with strange old outfits. 

Stepping away from the window, he made up his mind, and went to see his friends downstairs. He walked down the stairs, and into a large open room with boisterous laughter and loud chattering. Over the din of people, he was able to see Aubrey and Kel beckoning him across the room to a table where they, along with Basil, Hero and – _there she was_ – Mari were seated, chatting quietly with each other.

Moving across the room, he sat at the table along with everyone else. They were all – aside from Mari – wearing armour of their own, Hero with heavy looking armour similar to Aubrey’s, and Kel having light looking armour similar to his own.

To say he was confused with everything going on would be an understatement, this was unlike any dream world he had ever had. He didn’t know if this world would become his new Headspace or if it was just a passing dream, he genuinely had no idea.

“Hey bud! Usually you’re the first one up, what took you so long today?” that was Kel. He was taller in this dream, about as tall as the Kel in reality. Actually, all of them looked like they did in reality, even… Even Mari looked as if she had ages alongside them all. He knew it was only an approximation made up by his brain, but even still, Sunny couldn’t help but think that this is what she would have looked like – black hair that had haunted him for years flowing so elegantly behind her, taller but not as tall as Hero, or the monster behind him in the mirror, she looked more elegant in general – had he not lost his _damned_ temper that day.

“…Tired,” he responded. He thought he had told himself that he wouldn’t be using too many words, but here he was, responding to his friends despite the pain in his throat. He really should shut up, it hurt to speak. His friends would understand.

But Kel’s smile lit up the room when he heard Sunny’s voice, and who was he to deprive his friend that simple happiness. Resigning himself to his fate, Sunny elected that it seemed like he was going to be talking more, whether he liked it or not.

“Last night was a lot, you’re right. Maybe we shouldn’t get lost in the catacombs again, Mari kept me up all night scolding me!” Hero laughed as Mari batted at his arm. “You’re the leader though, Sunny, so really it is your own fault you’re so tired,” Hero pointed out, waggling his finger at Sunny in – what he assumed to be – a friendly scolding tone.

Sunny, however, was caught up on the Catacombs detail. What did he mean catacombs? Were they explorers in this dreamworld? And what did Hero mean about Sunny being the leader? That one made a little bit more sense dream-wise, he had been the leader of the group in Headspace, although they could all tag each other in to be the leader at any point they liked. Maybe it was similar in this world?

“Sorry, Hero. I know I kept you up for a few hours extra last night with my worrying,” Mari began in a consolidating tone, her eyebrows upturned in a sorrowful expression. She seemed truly remorseful until- “except it’s not like I don’t keep you up a few hours every other night,” her eyebrows started wiggling suggestively.

Sunny was- Well, he was shocked. Mari was definitely playful and teased Hero often in Headspace, but not nearly to this degree. Hero, for his part, was sputtering and flailing his arms wildly in embarrassment while Kel and Aubrey laughed raucously. Basil was laughing too, but not nearly as wildly as Kel and Aubrey.

“Mari, really? Your brother is right there!” Hero tried to quell Mari’s enthusiasm, which, to his favour, worked like a charm. Almost like a flip had been switched, Mari’s playful expression morphed into one of mortification as her face shone a bright red.

“Oh my god, how did I forget?” she seemed absolutely mortified. Embarrassed to the heavens and back.

Sunny thought this dream world could have been pretty cool. He was wrong. He would very much like to wake up now.

Thousands of thoughts were crossing his mind at that moment, so he said all that he could, to sum it up. “Gross.”

A lady walks over after a few more minutes of Kel and Aubrey laughing at his expense. Basil pats him on the shoulder pityingly. Thank you Basil. The only bitch in this… Tavern? Inn? That he respects.

The lady paused at their table and asked what they wanted to eat for breakfast. Sunny didn’t exactly feel hungry, and he would… Really prefer not to eat, even in his dreams. He had a small stomach, he couldn’t eat much even if he tried. The rest ordered pretty large breakfasts, while Sunny only got himself a couple of pieces of toast.

The others looked at him strangely at the small breakfast decision, but brushed it off, seeing as they didn’t ask any questions about it, thankfully. The lady walked away after placing a few cups of water on the table, and they all quickly resumed chatting.

“So, Sunny, where do you want to go today? We don’t have any jobs today, so it’s up to you what we do!” Basil spoke up. He hadn’t said much since he had sat down, and Sunny was getting a little worried if he was being honest with himself.

But he also kind of wish he didn’t speak up. Because now Sunny had to direct the group where they would be going in this… Town? Village? City??? He had no idea where he was, and he had to guide his friends? This was going to be a disaster.

They were explorers though, right? Or at least, that’s what he understood from Hero’s aside about the catacombs, so exploring was an option right?

“We can walk around… Town for today.” His voice was raspy, so he took a drink of water that the lady put on the table. At the table’s questioning look, he panicked internally. They had just gone along with whatever he said in Headspace, he didn’t know he had to have a reason for this dream world! “Take a break… From working.”

The others seemed to take that well enough. The questioning looks disappeared and were replaced with quiet and thankful smiles. 

“Well, that’s a pretty good idea. We have the money to spare, and we do need to replace your knives, Sunny,” Basil’s voice was soft, and a little bit disapproving. It was only disapproving when he mentioned the knives, and honestly Sunny couldn’t blame him.

Sunny didn’t exactly want to be near any extremely sharp objects right now, or for the near future, but if his role in this world was a knife wielder like in Headspace, he couldn’t exactly turn it away. So instead of arguing about the knives, he slowly nodded.

“I need to get the handle on my hammer fixed as well, so we should probably stop by the blacksmith first, so they can get those started now instead of later.” That was Aubrey. She had a hammer? A little bit different to the weapons in Headspace, but then again she was older in this world.

This world also seemed a lot more mature in general than Headspace, so having a hammer wasn’t too much of a surprise. It was still a surprise, because out of anything, he expected her to be wielding a bat like in reality- wait, did medieval times even have bats? What did medieval times even have for weapons? All he knew was that they had swords and shields and stuff.

Conversation flowed naturally in a way that Sunny didn’t expect, but was pleasantly surprised by. The conversations in Headspace were realistic to him, but that was from a 12 year old’s standpoint. The conversations weren’t mature, or challenging to think up, but they fit with the characters of his friends that were in his mind.

These conversations were realistic in a different way. They spoke briefly of adventures they had in the past, which they all told in their own ways. Aubrey packed a lot of detail into the fights they all had, Kel packed a lot of detail into the magic and the fun they had – and at the mention of magic, Sunny perked up. This world had _**magic**_. How cool was that? -, Hero packed a lot of detail into the quiet moments they all had, surrounding a campfire, Basil packed a lot of detail into the sights they saw and the wildlife they befriended. Mari apparently didn’t join them on their adventures, but she was always in town for them to come back to. She apparently worked at the inn they were staying at currently, so she could get them discounts on a place to stay.

Breakfast came to them, and as Sunny ate in silence, surrounded by his friends’ stories and warmth, he found himself stealing bits of food off their plates, hungrier then he expected himself to be. It surprised him, he didn’t like eating, it didn’t sit well in his stomach, and he often threw up whatever was in his stomach. It wasn’t healthy, he knew that, but it was all he could do to keep down some of it.

The dream world clearly didn’t have that issue, and he was able to eat freely, without the sickness in his throat forcing the food back up. He shamelessly stole from his friends, and they honestly didn’t seem to mind, freely giving up small bits of their food for him.

Breakfast came and went, conversation flowing freely between them all. Sunny found it warm. He knew he really shouldn’t, because he could easily get sucked into this dream world just like he did with Headspace as an escape. If his friends in reality didn’t forgive him, like he expected them to, he couldn’t afford to lose himself in his dreams again.

It wasn’t healthy. He knew that. But this world already seemed so rich and real. He didn’t understand the rules of this world, yet, but he and his friends were explorers in this world. Sunny knew his imagination was expansive, but he didn’t know exactly how far this dream world would extend before it started to break apart at the seams like Headspace did.

“Hello? Earth to Sunny, you still with us?” Kel’s voice was loud and intrusive to his thought process. He did like that about him, honestly. It broke him out of his stranger thought patterns, like the one he was just in. He shook his head a little to dispel the thoughts. He looked to Kel with a hint of a smile to dissuade the questioning that was sure to take place.

Kel, for his part, placed a hand on his heart and clutched it. “His smile- Too bright! I’m going blind!”

Well that was definitely an over exaggeration, he was sure. It’s not like he never smiled, right? Okay. Maybe he hadn’t smiled for real in over 4 years, but still. It wasn’t that big of a deal!

Breakfast had been finished for a while now, and Mari made to stand up. “Alright you lot! I have to get ready for work today, I’ve left these guys hanging for long enough. You all make sure to stay out of danger, alright? Have lots of fun for me, alright?” She pecked Hero on the lips – gross – before she went to ruffle Sunny’s hair. He leant into the contact, however brief it was, before she left to go get ready for work at the inn. 

The rest of them slowly stood up. Hero told him to go grab his pack from his room so that he actually has the money to pay for things, which was good idea. Thank you Hero, very cool.

He stepped into what was evidently his room and took another look over it. It felt safe, it felt warm and it felt like home. He didn’t know how, but it just did. He grabbed the pack from the corner, it was big, but it wasn’t heavy. He was thankful, because he really wasn’t very strong.

He headed back downstairs to see his friends waiting for him. They all had packs as well, but Aubrey, Hero and Basil all looked to have something else along with them. Hero had what looked to be a… Mace? He thinks it’s called a mace. It was hooked onto his belt, and it looked like it had seen some use. There were some barely noticeable dents in the metal.

Basil had a long wooden pole strapped to his back. It looked to be three quarters of his actual height, slung across his back. It looked sturdy, for sure, the wood looked as if it had taken a bit of a beating but was still staying strong.

And Aubrey, _wow_ , Aubrey had an entire Warhammer strapped to her back. The handle was long, and clearly bent out of shape. That must have been what she meant when she said she needed to get it fixed. But the head of the hammer was just something else to behold. Each side to the hammer was larger than his head, and had an ornate design etched into the metal. The paint had worn, but it looked as if the etching was remaining strong with no denting. She definitely struck an intimidating figure. Sunny liked it.

“Ready to go, Sunshine?” Aubrey spoke up, a sharp grin on her face. _Sunshine_ , there she goes again. He hadn’t been called Sunshine in such a long time, it put a smile on his face. She could always do that so easily. It was unfair, in his opinion.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

He moved forward towards the door leading to the outside world. He pushed open the door and was greeted by the hustle and bustle of the outside. A large number of people were in the streets, talking with each other, buying from the markets and heading to their own personal destinations.

Headspace never had this level of intricacy. It was really as if every one of those people were living their own lives. He had to pause for a minute to just watch the people pass by, each of them walking slightly differently, each of them having slightly different expressions and faces, each of them talking slightly differently. 

Once he got over his initial shock of it all, he attempted to move forward, only to find his knees weak. He tried again, only to fall to his knees. What was happening? Was the pack too heavy? No, it wasn’t he could walk fine to the door, something else was happening.

His friends had rushed to his side, and were holding him steady. He could see their lips moving, but he couldn’t hear them. It was like he was just plunged underwater, with how the world suddenly sounded.

He could feel the world tilt, but he was the only one tilting with it, it felt as if the Earth was shaking. Was it? Was that what was happening? Is that why he felt so cold? He could see his friend’s worried faces, and Hero’s hands were shining in a way that he had never seen before, even in Headspace. He looked scared. Why did he look scared? He wasn’t dying, was he?

He’d gotten close to becoming toast before, in Headspace, but he hadn’t felt like this before. Was he actually dying? Did death work differently here? He was scared. He didn’t want to die. He wanted to see his friends again.

He could see their panicked faces as darkness encroached on his vision, and just as it all faded to black, he was struck with a realization.

_Oh. I’m waking up._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I definitely tried something different this time! I wanted Headspace to be different than in canon, because Sunny confessed, he has no more need to hide from the truth!
> 
> Every time it rolls around to a Sunny chapter, I'll be doing it in two parts, at the least. One of them will be a "Dreamscape" chapter, that follows his dreamworld life and the other will be a "Wakescape" chapter, which follows his waking self. The order in which they happen is interchangeable. 
> 
> The dreamscape chapters are sort of meant as an interlude between days, and will follow it's own story beats. That isn't to say it won't be important to the main plot, because it will! Just not in the way you'd expect. Believe me, they'll be important. Sunny may not be hiding his memories from himself anymore, but that doesn't mean everything is hunky dory.
> 
> I wanted the Dreamscape to be as different to Sunny's Headspace as possible, so I made it a fantasy world. Similar to DnD, in a way, where there's magic and mayhem. It's where a majority of the more intensive combat will be taking place, so gear up for some of that!
> 
> Please, I tried something different with this chapter, so I want to hear your feedback on this. It's a little bit of a shift from what's considered normal, but I did try hard on making Sunny's Dreamscape work well.
> 
> You'll have to wait 'till next dreamscape chapter to know for sure what their roles will be, so stay tuned! Next chapter is Sunny's waking life!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when it comes to writing fanfic. All I know is that I have Omori brainrot, and that I really want to see more of my kids. I want them to be happy, damnit.
> 
> Please let me know what you think in the comments. I live for feedback, negative and positive. It helps me be better than I am.


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